The Morning Stake | 2019.05.02

Leading Off

Special Shout-Out. A special shout-out to the two tennis teams as they both have made the NCAA Tournament, but in particular to Felicity Maltby for being named the Big 12 Player of the Year. Huge accomplishment for the senior!

Texas Tech Baseball

19-11. That’s not the record for the baseball team, that was yesterday’s score, which Texas Tech won after being down by 9 runs to start the game. Erikson Lanning didn’t make it out of the 1st inning, allowing 7 runs, only 2 earned, but he also had 3 errors in that 1st inning, so I’m guessing it was just sort of a disaster. The good news is that Trey Garlett got his first win of the year and Kurt Wilson received his first start of the year and promptly went 3-5, a home run, and 3 RBI. Josh Jung and Cam Warren also homered. Oklahoma is up next in Norman.

Texas Tech Basketball

Top 25 and 1.CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish has his top 25 and 1 and I always feel like I need to mention that during the season Parrish re-ranks the top 25 each and every day and publishes it each and every day. He pays attention to scores and who beat who and he’s very good at what he does, even if you disagree with his analysis. He puts in the work. Anyway, he has Texas Tech at #22 and he is also project that RJ Hampton will go to Memphis. Parrish is based in Memphis and when the whole Tubby Smith thing went down, Parrish was all over it, despite objections from Texas Tech fans. I’d also guess that Memphis and Kansas are the leaders and if Parrish says that Memphis is the leader, I’d take that to the bank. The interesting thing about Memphis is that we’re still not sure if Penny Hardaway can really even coach, but he can recruit his tail off.

Shannon to Sign Today. Terrence Shannon, Jr. is committed to Texas Tech and will actually sign with the Red Raiders today at 5:00 p.m. It appears the delay in him signing is maybe that he wanted to be at home to do this, Shannon played last year at IMG Academy in Florida and will actually sign at home in Chicago. Good for him for wanting his family to be part of this big moment for him.

Texas Tech Football

Phone Calls Home. Yesterday, they announced that the football team had named 16 captains, 5 seniors, 5 juniors, 3 sophomores, and 3 freshmen. Lots of thought that this is too many captains, but it does allow for 16 different parents to be really proud of their children, so there’s at least that.

Tech teammate Dakota Allen received most of the accolades last year, but Brooks actually led the Red Raiders in tackles with 84. At 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, the Houstonian has the size to play inside linebacker at the next level. A new defensive scheme under first-year head coach Matt Wells may provide Brooks with an opportunity to better showcase his physical abilities.

I’ll be curious as heck to see how Brooks tests out with the speed drills because that would seemingly be the only thing that holds him back. I also tend to think that if Broderick Washington, Jr. can be allowed to play more aggressive, he’ll be looked at and if Terence Steele’s move to left tackle works out, then I could see that as well. I’d also add that if Steele and Travis Bruffy play with more aggression and start dominating some folks, which maybe with a more pronounced running game this will permit them to showcase their abilities. Jack Anderson would be the other obvious choice, but would have to declare for the NFL Draft, which I could absolutely see happening.

Pancotti to Transfer. Offensive lineman Gio Pancotti announced on Twitter that he would be a graduate transfer from Texas Tech. Pancotti was never able to crack the starting rotation and had seemingly fallen behind some underclassmen, Jack Anderson and Dawson Deaton. This is the second scholarship player to transfer, McLane Carter being the first, and I’d expect more along the way as the spring semester winds down.